US warned Ukraine’s ambassador over strikes on Black Sea oil target

Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

The Trump administration took the unusual step of warning the Ukrainian government that its strikes on a Russian Black Sea oil facility late last year had impacted US investments in Kazakhstan, the Ukrainian ambassador to the US revealed Tuesday.

“We have been hearing that Ukrainian attacks to Novorossiysk affected some of the American investments which are being performed through Kazakhstan. And we have heard from Department of State that we should refrain from, from, you know, attacking American interests,” Ambassador Olga Stefanishyna said at a briefing.

Stefanishyna said she had received a demarche, which is a formal diplomatic notice, from the US State Department over the matter. CNN has reached out to the State Department for comment.

The news comes on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion with no end to the brutal war in site. US-brokered peace talks have shown little sign of a breakthrough. The unusual move to issue the demarche appears to speak to the administration’s priorities and follows Trump’s decision to halt new military aid to Kyiv last year.

The Ukrainian ambassador said the US did not suggest Kyiv should refrain from attacking Russian military and energy infrastructure.

“It was related to the very fact that American economic interest was affected there,” she said. “We have taken the note on that.”

In late November, Ukrainian drones struck the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, damaging not just Russian interests but also a key pipeline, which led to a significant drop in Kazakh oil exports. Chevron is a major shareholder in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which carries oil from Kazakh oil fields to the Black Sea for export.

Still, the communication came as Russia was vastly expanding its own missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure in the midst of Ukraine’s coldest winter in a decade – attacks described by Ukrainian and European officials as a deliberate effort to inflict suffering on civilians.

The ambassador noted that the missive from the State Department underscored that US does not currently have the same economic interests in Ukraine as it does in Kazakhstan.

“I was really, really sorry that in 35 years of Ukraine independence, having so many chances, we never brought ourselves to the situation where we can do the same,” she told reporters Tuesday.

The Trump administration has made economic and energy investments a key part of its foreign policy. Last year, the US and Ukraine signed an “economic partnership agreement” that will give Washington access to Kyiv’s mineral resources in exchange for establishing an investment fund in Ukraine.

As Russia’s full-scale war enters its fifth year, Stefanishyna praised the support of the US to Ukraine, which has changed substantially under the Trump administration.

She decried what she called a lack of political pressure and failure to give Kyiv the heavy weapons it asked for at the outset of the war in 2022, saying it had allowed Russia to continue to develop.

“Because of lack of sanctions, lack of pressure, lack of commitment, in terms of military systems, we were doing enough for Ukraine to survive, but we were not doing enough for Russia not to evolve,” she said.

Stefanishyna called on US lawmakers to pass legislation to increase sanctions on Moscow, saying that a delay in its passage is seen as a win for Moscow.

“It should be either passed now or we will just have to recognize that there’s no will to do it,” she said.

“If we are able to impose more sanctions and more pressure on Russia, they will not be in a position to withdraw from the negotiations,” she added.

Negotiations between Ukraine, Russia, and the US have yet to yield results, and Moscow has continued its relentless assaults on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN Monday that he wants US President Donald Trump “to stay on our side.”

“If they really want to stop Putin, America’s so strong,” he said. Asked if he believes Trump is putting enough pressure on Putin, Zelensky said, “No.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

伊丽莎白·弗兰茨/路透社

乌克兰驻美国大使周二透露，特朗普政府采取了不同寻常的举措，警告乌克兰政府，其去年底对俄罗斯黑海石油设施的袭击影响了美国在哈萨克斯坦的投资。

“我们听说乌克兰对新罗西斯克的袭击影响了一些通过哈萨克斯坦进行的美国投资。我们也从国务院得到消息，我们应该避免攻击美国的利益，”奥尔加·斯特凡尼什娜大使在一次简报会上说。

斯特凡尼什娜表示，她已收到美国国务院就此事发出的正式外交照会。CNN已联系国务院寻求置评。

正值俄罗斯入侵乌克兰四周年之际，这场残酷的战争仍未见结束的迹象。美国斡旋的和平谈判也鲜有突破迹象。此次罕见的外交照会似乎体现了本届政府的优先事项，此前特朗普已于去年决定停止向基辅提供新的军事援助。

乌克兰大使表示，美国并未建议基辅停止攻击俄罗斯的军事和能源基础设施。

“这与美国在当地的经济利益受到影响密切相关，”她说。“我们已经注意到这一点。”

11月下旬，乌克兰无人机袭击了黑海港口新罗西斯克，不仅损害了俄罗斯的利益，还破坏了一条关键输油管道，导致哈萨克斯坦石油出口大幅下降。雪佛龙公司是​​里海输油管道联盟的主要股东，该管道将哈萨克斯坦油田的石油输送到黑海出口。

然而，就在此时，俄罗斯正大幅增加对乌克兰城市和能源基础设施的导弹和无人机袭击，而乌克兰正经历着十年来最寒冷的冬天——乌克兰和欧洲官员将这些袭击描述为蓄意给平民带来苦难。

大使指出，国务院的这份文件强调，美国目前在乌克兰的经济利益与在哈萨克斯坦的经济利益并不相同。

“我感到非常非常遗憾，在乌克兰独立 35 年的时间里，我们有很多机会，但我们始终没有让自己处于能够做到这一点的境地，”她周二告诉记者。

特朗普政府已将经济和能源投资作为其外交政策的关键组成部分。去年，美国和乌克兰签署了一项“经济伙伴关系协议”，根据该协议，华盛顿将获得基辅的矿产资源，以换取在乌克兰设立一个投资基金。

俄罗斯全面战争进入第五年之际，斯特凡尼什娜赞扬了美国对乌克兰的支持，而这种支持在特朗普政府时期发生了实质性变化。

她谴责缺乏政治压力，未能向基辅提供其在 2022 年战争初期所要求的重型武器，并表示这使得俄罗斯得以继续发展。

她说：“由于缺乏制裁、缺乏压力、缺乏承诺，在军事系统方面，我们为乌克兰的生存所做的努力已经足够，但我们为阻止俄罗斯发展所做的努力还不够。”

斯特凡尼什娜呼吁美国立法者通过立法，加大对莫斯科的制裁力度，并表示该法案迟迟未能通过，对莫斯科而言无疑是一次胜利。

“要么现在就通过，要么我们就不得不承认，根本没有意愿去做这件事，”她说。

她补充说：“如果我们能够对俄罗斯施加更多制裁和更大压力，他们就无法退出谈判。”

乌克兰、俄罗斯和美国之间的谈判尚未取得成果，莫斯科继续对乌克兰民用基础设施进行无情攻击。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基周一告诉美国有线电视新闻网（CNN），他希望美国总统特朗普“站在我们这边”。

“如果他们真的想阻止普京，美国实力非常强大，”他说。当被问及他是否认为特朗普对普京施加了足够的压力时，泽连斯基回答说：“没有。”

本文已更新，添加了更多细节。